Evie has always been a bookworm, her favourites being love stories that sweep the characters off
their feet. Now, the only ‘sweeping’ in Evie’s life is when she slides all her love stories off her book shelf and into a box. She doesn’t need or want them anymore.
Since her mum and dad’s divorce, Evie has been angry. Angry at her dad and angry at the other woman, and angry at her mum for not talking about it with her. Evie’s mum and sister seemed to have moved on from this betrayal, where Evie just can’t let it go.
Donating her love stories to a community library, something strange happens, leaving her with a dog-eared, slim paperback with the title Instructions for Dancing.
The last thing she feels like is dancing, but then the visions begin. Every time she sees a couple kiss, she sees their entire relationship play out in front of her. No matter the age of the couple she sees how they met right through to the future when their love unwinds, fades and dies.
Following the only clue she has to find out what’s happening, she ends up in a dance studio. This is where she meets X.
Both Evie and X have been moulded by their losses, X having lost someone close to him. His new philosophy is say yes to everything. Despite her misgivings, Evie and X are roped into a dance competition, and she begins to like this boy who is far too much like the boys in her romance novels.
Every time she sees another vision and love fall apart, and with constant reminders of her father’s betrayal, Evie’s insistence that love is simply not worth the pain is strengthened.
But X is patient, and so is her father, both wanting her love. Evie struggles with wanting to protect her heart but realises it has a mind of its own, reaching out towards them.
I was keen to read this novel as I loved The Sun is Also a Star so much. Evie’s heart is so battered by her parent’s divorce she has fallen out of love with the whole concept of it. Everyone will get hurt in the end so why bother?
Nicola Yoon’s own life and pain is part of this novel and the relationships in the story masterfully depicted. We have relationships with parents, friends, and boyfriends/girlfriends all through our lifetimes. Some are wonderful, some not so much, but would we wipe those from our lives entirely?
Evie has to find this out for herself and does so, so authentically I was shedding tears for her. The end isn’t all sweetness and rainbows – sure, some of it is beautiful, but just like in life, unexpected curveballs fly in out of nowhere.
A love story about all kinds of love, with just a touch of the supernatural. Loved it!
Author – Nicola Yoon
Age – 13+
Read another Nicola Yoon Book Review here
(2021, Penguin, Love, Romance, Dancing, Loss, Betrayal, Divorce, Relationships, Dance instructor, Dance Competition, Friendship, Visions, Future hurt, Family, Secret, Grief)